Homeland Insecurity

In response to the Al Qaida terrorist attack on Christmas day, the Obama administration has responded forcefully, punishing and restricting the freedom of… innocent airline passengers.

According to a new TSA security directive distributed to airlines on Saturday, airlines are to “disable aircraft-integrated passenger communications systems and services (phone, internet access services, live television programming, global positioning systems) prior to boarding and during all phases of flight.” Also: all passenger access to carry-on luggage, getting up from seats and having anything on laps is banned one hour before all landings.

But lest you think Obama cares nothing about freedom and rights, rest assured that Abdulmutallab will not be sent to Guantanamo Bay and treated as a prisoner of war. We wouldn’t want to interrogate him to find out who armed and trained him (however incompetently), so that future attacks might be thwarted. No, the security of Americans is not as important as Abdulmutallab’s constitutional rights. The enemy combatant has been given lawyers.

Obama continues the Bush approach but more so. The neoconservatives were so fearful of world opinion that they failed to prosecute the war well. Instead they created the Department of Homeland Security, happy to keep the American people in a constant state of fear rather than actually fight a serious war to defeat the enemy.

As incompetent and misguided as Bush was in defending America against a totalitarian enemy that would destroy us, Obama is worse. Being an anti-American collectivist, he bows and apologizes to dictators around the world and treats Americans as serfs who must keep their hands on their knees to show they are not up to anything bad.

It makes sense that Obama wishes to extend airtravel restrictions and regulations. He’s unwilling to militarily engage Islamofacist threats overseas so the only alternative is to hunker down at home. He’s ruled out offense which leaves him exclusively with defense.

National Security Workforce to Address ‘Intersectionality’: do you ever get the sense that you’re in a waking nightmare? Money quote from the memo: “Our greatest asset in protecting the homeland and advancing our interests abroad is the talent and diversity of our national security workforce.”

Last Week Tonight on Donald Trump: bit long, but great takedown of the Trump mythos. In a more rational political environment, this would have killed his presidential campaign. I’m not sure it’ll make any difference.

A Responsibility I Take Seriously: nominee must be “without any particular ideology or agenda” and have “a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook.” I sure hope the Republicans can hold the line on his nominations.

Trigger Warnings in Annapolis: I’m not sure why I expected the service academies to be bastions of academic freedom, but I did. It’s much worse than the universities since they’re far more hierarchical.

Announcing the Twitter Trust & Safety Council: this is within their rights, of course. Given the leftist leanings of the company and its assembled Council of Goodspeech, I suspect that some groups will get a pass and some will face suppression. Chilling at any rate.